Wire-bending machine



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

V. BEAUREGARD. WIRE BENDING MACHINE.

No. 496,472. v Patented May 2, 1898.

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Patented May 2, 1893.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

V.BEAUREGARD.

WIRE BENDING MACHINE.

'A/MO. 496,472. Patented May 2, 1893.

CVCBS UNITED vSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

VICTOR BEAUREGARD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WIRE-BENDING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 496,472, dated May 2, 1893.

Application filed ovember 3, 1892. Serial No. 450,870. (N o model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VICTOR BEAUREGARD, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Wire-Bending Mechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to machines for bending lengths of wire in a spiral form, with the end of the wire at the center of the spiral projecting therefrom at right angles to theplane of said spiral. One use for the article thus formed is as a shank, for a button-head, with a spiral foot, said head being preferably composed of papier mach which when driven and molded upon the end of the wire projecting at right-angles from the central portion of the spiral, forms a button which may be attached to a boot or other article of wearing apparel by screwing` it into the same, without the use of any other fastener than the spiral foot.

.The machine of this invention comprises a holding device for holding one en d of the wire, a bender to bend the free portion of said wire and means for moving said bender, and mechanism for coiling the bent portion of the wire upon a former into a spiral form.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved wire-bending mechanism. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, partly in elevation on the line 2-2, of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 2a. Fig. 3 is a vertical section in detail, on the line 3-3, of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 3a. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal horizontal section of my improved wire bending mechanism, on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, showing the relative positions of the several parts after the wire is bent at right angles. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Figs. 4 and 5 showing the bent portion of the wire coiled around a former in aspiral form. Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the former and spiral coiler. Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7 with the coiler partially revolved. Fig. 9 is a deand the slide to which it is'attached. Fig. 1o

shows details of the former and stud in secp as it appears after being bent at right angles as in Fig. 5. Fig. 13 is an enlarged perspective view of the wire after it has been coiled in spiral form as in Fig. 6.

In the drawings, a, a represent a pair of gripping or holdingdies provided with a groove b to receive the wire c. Said groove may be formed entirely in one of the dies, or it may be formed one half in each die or the dies a, a may be made in one piece with a hole or groove to receive the wire passing through said die.

I do not limit myself to any special form of die or dies as any suitable'device may be usedk to hold the wire while the free portion of said wire is being bent and twisted as hereinafter more fully described.

The dies c, a are supported in a frame d, and one or both may be moved toward and away from each other in a longitudinal direction by suitable mechanism as illustrated in` Figs. 1 and 3 wherein the dies are provided with cam rolls a2, o3 driven by the cams (t4 a5 said cams being fast to the shafts A, A.

The wire c is fed through a slot e in the stud f to the proper point. The dies ct, a then advance and grip the end of ythe wire which is toform'the straight shank portion of the button-foot, betweeny their proximate ends. The-portion of the wire which is not held between the dies a, a and which in the completed button-foot forms the spiral base of said foot is now bent at right angles to the portion of wire constituting the straight shank-portion of said foot and lwhich portion is held between the dies a, ct', by a bender g.

The bender g consists of a piece of steel rigidly fastened to a sliding piece gf, said sliding piece being moved backward and forward in ways in the frame d by a cam roll g2 and cam g3 on the shaft A. the slot e formed in the stud f, and previous to the bending of the wire at right angles as y yhereinbefore referred to, it stands in thel potail plan and elevation of the wire bender lsitionindicated in Fig.4of the drawings. To roo The bender g fits in the back of the slide g is affixed a cutter 7L which coacts with the fixed cutter' h' to sever the wire c when the slide g is advanced in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 4, or in a direction at right angles to the length of the wire and to the axial line of the coiler hereinafter described. After the wire is severed by the cutters h, h a further motion of the slide g in the same direction will bring the bender g against the unheld or free portion of the wire, bending the same around the corner a6 of the die a until it is bent into the position shown in Fig. 5, on the top of the die a and at right angles to the portion of the wire held between the dies a, a'. The portion of the wire which has been subjected to the action of the bender and is free or unconfined, is now given a spiral form as hereinafter described.

fis a stud shown as fixed in position on a frame or carrier t and having on the end adjacent to the dies a, d a former j around which the free portion of the wire, bent as above described, is coiled in the form of a spiral by a coiler consisting as one whole and as it is particularly shown, of a gear 7o having a bearing and turning on the stud f and of a roll 7.a turning on the gear and having its axis of rotation eccentric to the axis of rotation of the gear, said gear k being the means shown to carry the roll 7.3 in the proper direction to coil the wire as desired and as hereinafter appears and to bring it back to position for another operation.

The studf, frame t', gear 7c and slide g are each slotted as indicated at e in each of the parts to allow the wire to pass through them when being bent at rightangles.

The gear k, meshes into a segmental gear 7a2, said segmental gear being fastened to a rock-shaft k3 having bearings on the frame el of the machine. To the rock-shaft 7c3, is fastened the arm 7a4. Said arm 7a4 is connected by a rod k to the eccentric strap k on the eccentric k7. The eccentric 707 is fast to the shaft A and as said shaft rotates, it is evident that the segmental gear will be rocked backward and forward impartingabackward and forward rotation to the gear lo. XVhen the wire has been bent at right angles as described, and the coiler is in the position shown in Fig. 7, a further rotation of shaft A will rotate the gear in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 7, as described, to the position shown .in Fig. S. The roll k projects from the gear 7c in the same plane as the free bent portion of the wire so that when the gear is rotated as described, the roll comes in contact with said portion of the wire and bends it around the former as shown in Fig. S. The segmental gear now being moved by the eccentric in the opposite direction, the direction of rotation of the gear is reversed and brought back into position for another operation.

It is preferable that the coiler as it acts on the free bent portion of the wire to coil it about the former j should have a rolling movement but it may be fixed against any such movement, the essential feature of it however being that it should be located eccentric to the axis of the straight portion of the wire held fast while another and free bent portion thereof is being coiled by it, as stated.

The wire may be coiled by a coiler adapted to move in one direction instead of backward and forward as described.

The wire is preferably fed from a reel by suitable wire feeding mechanism and is cut into lengths by suitable cutters h, h.

The formerj governs the shape of the inside edge ofthe spiral bend of the wire. While the coiler is working to coil the wire there about as has been stated, it is essential that it should be practically fixed and immovable.

The operation of the wire bending mechanism as a whole is as follows: The wire is fed from the reel by the wire feed mechanism to the proper point between the gripping dies a., a. One or both of said dies then advance and grip the wire between their ends. The bender g then advances in the direction indicated by the arrow causing the cutting of the wire as it advances and bending the free 'end of the wire at right angles to the portion held by the dies as seen in Fig. 5. The coiler is then moved and wipes the wire around the former j. The wire is now bent into the form ydesired, namely, a spiral with the portion of the wire held by the dies at the center of the spiral and at right angles to the plane of said spiral.

No mechanism is necessary to eject the Wire from the former after the bending and 'coiling operation is completed, as, when the gripping dies open, the wire will either fall 0E of the formerf, or will be pushed off by the next length of wire which is fed into the machine.

It will be noted that the wire holding 4dies are shown provided with hemispherical depressions o, o, and in connection with Figs. 4, 5 and 6, I have illustrated the manner in which papiermach or other compressible material maybe forced and molded upon the end of the wire which projects at right angles from the center of the spiral, by means of the punch or die r and the dies d, a', in a manner well known. I have illustrated this manner of forming a button-head upon the shank vof the spiral foot while said shank is held between two dies, but I do not intend to have the combination of the button molding mechanism with the wire-bending mechanism a part of the invention sought to be covered by this application, as I have made that the subject matter of another application, Serial No. 465,681.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination in a machine for bending wire, of a wire holding device, a bender to bend the free portion of said wire at right an- Ioo gies to its he1d portion, and means to move said bender in proper direction therefor, a

In 'testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing former, and a ooiler t-o coil said free bent Witnesses.

VICTOR BEAUREGARD. Witnesses: v

ALBERT W. BROWN,A JOHN F. NELSON. 

